Often, she told me that I could not understand because I had not witnessed the things that had been done to her people.
`You were not there, Daniel. You didn't see it all.' she told me.
`That's true.' I replied. `I was not there. But it was long ago, and the ones who did that to your people are long gone.'
`I saw it all, Daniel.' she continued, as if she hadn't even heard what I said. `I was there during the age when the Brotherhood kept us as their slaves. I was there, and took part in the many things they made us do. I was there...'
`It has been thousands of years... They are long dead. Why would you seek to hurt those that live in Ess'yer today, when they had nothing to do with this?'
`Those people never change, Daniel. Ages pass, but what do they do? They cling to their old beliefs, their old ways. Mere centuries ago, they invaded this land, and slaughtered thousands of dragons. They are no better than the Brotherhood was. They are all the same...'
`I won't say they did the right thing with that, darlin'. They didn't. But they did that in response to your invasion of Ess'yer.'
`Their actions merely proved me right! They are all the same, just like the Brotherhood was! I saw it all... I was bound to the Plane of Fire, but I had the means to see what was happening in Draconia. I saw it! I witnessed the merciless slaughter. I saw breeding grounds destroyed, unhatched dragon eggs cracked open, countless young dragons cut down. I saw my people suffer like never before. That is what the lessers are capable of, Daniel... And I will make them pay! We will make them understand the true meaning of suffering. We will make them our slaves, like they made us theirs eons ago. They will pay...'
Arguably, what had happened to her people was tragic, and shameful. But what she envisioned, was no better. Her first attempt at revenge, the Great War, yielded terrible consequences for everyone involved, including her own people. Whether that was her fault or it was just the nature of the Ess'yerian people that was to blame, or both, doesn't really matter. Her war ignited a flame that eventually scorched the lands of Draconia. She can have her revenge, but unless she outright eradicates them, the Ess'yerians will strike back eventually. Hostility only breeds more hostility, and history does repeat itself...
No matter how I tried to explain it to her, she didn't listen. She was steadfast. Revenge was all she could think of...
I didn't know what more I could do to convince her. Then one day, she asked me to go with her to an old ruin deep in her territory, where she wanted to find some old artifact of the Brotherhood.
Of course I went with her without hesitation. I would never miss such a chance, to explore a ruin of the Brotherhood, and with her at my side. I thought about calling Zack to come along, but I knew he'd hate the idea. He and Mel' had a long lasting disagreement, you see. Long ago, Zack had stolen something from her, and she was still very angry at him for that. I did not want to stir tension between us by calling Zack along, so it was just her and me.
Or so I thought. You see, it was not how I truly thought things would be...
When we arrived, we headed deep into the ruins, far below ground, into a deep and largely labyrinthine dungeon. She knew her way around surprisingly well. That alone was strange, but then there was also the fact that the ruins didn't even remotely resemble the few Brotherhood ruins that Zack and I had explored before. It was all pretty suspicious, but I trusted her.
Deep in the dungeon, we encountered a large room with a water well in the middle of it. Strange thing to see a well in the middle of a dungeon. She looked at it for a while, and then asked me to give her my sword.
`Why do you need it?' I asked.
`I want to try something.' she asked. I gave it to her, and she cut the rope of the bucket, and let the bucket fall deep into the well. A few seconds later we could hear the splash, signaling that the bucket had reached the bottom of the well.
`Why did you do that?' I asked, surprised. Instead of replying, she tossed my sword into the well.
`Darling, what are you doing?!' I screamed. `That sword is priceless!'
`I'm sorry, Daniel...' she said, looking at me with sad eyes. `...but I must leave you here.'
`What? I don't understand...'
`Daniel... You have possibly been the best thing that ever entered my life. However, I have an obligation to my people. You are too blind to see the necessity of our vengeance. You will never aid us. You would even try to stop us.' she said.
`Darling, your vengeance is outdated. The ones who caused your people harm are long dead!'
`I told you... You do not understand. And I cannot let you stand in our way...'
Then she looked up. High above, I could see a trap door in the ceiling. Moments later, the trap door opened, and I could see light coming in through it. It was a hatch leading out to the surface. A half-dragon descended through the hatch and landed on the ground beside her. He was carrying a large bag. He put the bag on the ground, then pointed at me with his left arm, and spoke a few magic words. Before I could react, a thin beam of yellow light was fired from his hand and it struck me, and enveloped me. I felt nothing strange though.
`What are you doing?!' I asked.
`I can't let you teleport out of here, Daniel. I'm sorry it came to this, but I can't let you stop me!' she told me. Then I understood. The half-dragon had cast some kind of spell or curse on me that prevented me from using magic. She truly wanted me to stay locked up in that dungeon...
She suddenly grew half-dragon wings out of her back, and flew up to the hatch. It suddenly came to my mind that without her, or another creature that could fly, I would never make it out that way. It was far too high, and I had no means to fly, or levitate. From above, she addressed me.
`I can't bring myself to kill you, Daniel, but I can't let you stand in our way. Dragon-kind must prevail!' she said, and she flew up through the hatch. The half-dragon mage followed her, and I was left alone.
Just like that, she left me there. I was shattered, devastated. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, thinking how wrong I had been about her, and at the same time, how I still desired her, and how I could not be truly angry at her.
For an hour I stood there against the wall, thinking. Eventually, I understood that just as she had her people to think about, I had Keehmor Keep to think about. I had to escape and make it back, before she could lay waste to the Keep. Surely, the golems would hold them off for weeks, but without me, there's no-one to repair the golems, and so it was only a matter of time before Mel' would take over the Keep, and then all the surrounding towns that were under my protection. I had to escape.
But I was trapped. I couldn't escape the way Mel' did, and I had no way to teleport. There was only one way for me to go: back the way we entered. I had no doubts in my mind that she had the entrance locked and probably guarded, but it was my only chance.
I headed back into the tunnel through which we came in, and short after came across a locked metal door which was not there before. It was not magically sealed however, and I managed to break it down. I continued forward, but after a few turns I heard strange noises. I slowed down and tried to proceed sneaking, as much as that was possible in plate armor... A while later, I noticed the source of the noise.
The corridors were full of undead. And I do mean, full of them. From where I was, I saw at least twenty zombies. Judging by the noise, I could tell that further back there were many more of them.
`Shit!'
I headed back to the room with the well, and looked down the well. My sword was deep below, and there was no way to reach it. With the rope gone, there was also no way to climb down. Unlike Zack, I was not skilled in telekinesis magics, not to mention that the curse of Mel's half-dragon mage stopped me from using magic anyway. So I had to fight off the undead without a sword.
Then I remembered that the half-dragon had left a bag behind. I grabbed it and searched it hoping to find something useful, but all I found were rations and a bottle of water. Nothing that I could have used a
s a weapon, or help me retrieve my sword.
Just as I realized that, I heard a noise from behind. I turned around, and saw that the zombies were entering the room. There was no way out. I had to fight them.
*
Escaping that dungeon was the most difficult battle of my life. The first wave of zombies were already pretty hard to defeat, but there were only worse battles later on. I had to use whatever resources I could to defeat the undead. The only thing around were the undead themselves. With brute sheer strength, I pulled one of the zombies away from the others, and proceeded to beat it down. Once I managed to wrestle it to the ground, I tried as hard as possible to rip its head off with my bare hands. Eventually, I succeeded.
`Why don't you guys brush your damn teeth...' I sneered, as I threw the zombiehead on the ground. The smell of its breath was simply terrible...
That zombie was down, but I still had all the rest to worry about. So I ripped out its arms, and used those two severed zombiearms to fight off the rest. No, I am not joking. I had to use something with which I could beat them up, and keep my distance from them, and there was nothing else around...
The severed zombiearms proved to be more effective than I expected, but not as effective as I'd have liked. A slashing weapon would have been more useful. In time, I realized that I couldn't kill the zombies any other way but by ripping their heads off, and there were too many of them around to rip their heads off one by one. So I had to improvise.
I used the severed zombiearms to scatter them around in the room. Once they were sufficiently isolated, I grabbed one of them and dragged it to the well, then picked it up and tossed it right down the well. It was quite deep, and there was no way for the zombie to climb out of there.
`Climb out of that, rot-face!' I shouted after it.
Then I grabbed another zombie and dragged that one to the well, too.
`Here, have some company!' I shouted down the well, then I picked up the second zombie and tossed it down the well after the first one. Then another. And another. I tossed altogether nine zombies down there. As I dragged the tenth one there, I realized that there wasn't enough space left. The next one could have climbed out easily.
`Sorry, no vacancy!' I shouted at the tenth zombie, and then I punched it in the nose. As it staggered, I knocked it to the ground, jumped on it, and proceeded to rip its head off.
`Alright... Back to the old school...' I said, as I stood up and tossed the severed zombiehead to the ground.
I had to kill the others. I picked up the severed zombiearms again, and scattered the remaining zombies around in the room as much as possible, then started ripping heads off. Every once in a while one of them came close as I was trying to kill one of the rest. At such times, I picked up the approaching zombie and tossed it against another one, knocking them both down and thus gaining some time. Like this, I was able to defeat them, and slowly kill them all.
As I ripped off the head of the last zombie, I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. I rested a couple of minutes, then I slowly stood up, and braced myself for what was to come.
Before I stepped outside, I imagined what Zack would say. Knowing him, he'd have said what he had told me several times as a joke.
`You know something, Danny Boy... Women will cause your demise one day!'
I remembered that as I headed for the door. After the experience I had with the zombies, I couldn't help but say it aloud to myself:
`If I ever hear him say that again, I'm going to kill him!'
Then I stepped out into the tunnel. And as I said, that first group was a piece of cake compared to the rest of the dungeon...
*
I'll spare you the details of the things I had to do to get out of there. I had many long, tough battles, and had pretty limited weaponry available. Eventually, I made my way to the surface. The entrance was not locked, but outside, I was greeted by a surprisingly small group of a mere four half-dragons, guarding the entrance. I took them by surprise and disarmed one of them. With the newly acquired sword, I was able to cut them down relatively fast, at least compared to the battles I had within the dungeon. Once they were all dead, I could rest a bit to catch my breath. I focused on my magical power and attempted to teleport back to Keehmor Keep. In all the mess, I forgot all about the spell that hindered me from teleporting. I had no choice. I had to go on foot.
You must understand, this area was deep within draconic territory, far away from my Keep. Not only did I have to go on foot, I also had to stay alert and avoid the dragons at all cost.
Of course I needed supplies, too. I gathered what I could from the dead guards, but that wasn't much. As it turned out, there was a hurriedly built small outpost just a short way from the entrance of the dungeon. The dragons were setting it up to be able to effectively guard me in my prison. When I saw it, I tried to approach them unseen, but sneaking isn't my strong side, so they spotted me relatively quickly. There were around ten of them altogether. I didn't run. I was angry! I wanted to let off some steam. So I attacked. I cut them down. To be honest, I barely even remember the details of that fight. I was going largely on instinct there. I just know that when the dust settled, they were dead, and I was still standing.
The outpost had many supplies, so I gathered as much as I could carry, and left.
On the first day, I just wanted to get as far away from the outpost as possible, and find some shelter for the night. Eventually I took shelter in a small abandoned cave. I slept warily, but I was able to rest enough. The other day I realized that the terrain was largely unknown to me, and I did not really know which way to go. I realized that only the stars could be my guide. So from that point forward I traveled by night and sought shelter to sleep by day.
Weeks passed as I roamed the lands of Draconia alone, trying to avoid the dragons on the way. Eventually, I reached familiar grounds, places I had explored earlier. Then I knew that I was southeast of Keehmor Keep, and I could travel by day once more.
I didn't know how long I had traveled by the time I arrived. I just knew it had been far, far too long...
When I reached the Keep, I found it besieged. The entire Keep was surrounded by a large army of slave soldiers and half-dragons. There were no dragons to be seen. They were there, actually, they were just out of my sight, and on the ground, waiting for the footsoldiers to weaken the Keep's defenses for them to strike.
I had no idea how I could get through and into the Keep, but I had to get in somehow! Then I saw Latta, in the shape of a giant stone eagle, circling high above. I waved my hands towards him, but he didn't notice me. I was too far...
Then I had an idea. There were plenty of bushes around. I gathered a large amount of dry branches and wrote Latta's name into the ground by littering the branches on the ground in the shape of large letters. Then, I lit a torch and set them all on fire. Soon after, Latta's name was flaming and could be seen from a far distance. Sure enough, my faithful alter golem soon saw it, and he came to me.
He landed beside me and changed into his normal shape.
`Master... Where have you been? What has happened to you?' he asked. He looked shocked to see me in the disheveled state that I was in.
`There's no time...' I replied. `I will explain later. Tell me, what has happened while I was gone?'
`The Dragon Queen threw the truce out the window and launched an attack on the Keep. We have been constantly besieged ever since. They are not advancing aggressively, but they have pretty much sealed us in. Of course I still have the means to leave. I bring supplies for the guards every now and then.'
`How many losses?'
`We lost six of us, Master.'
`Six...?'
`A few guards as well. But the dragons are focusing on us. They know we are the greatest threat. They seldom attack though. They are using the footsoldiers to weaken us. Only then do they attack. No-good cheap shot artists...'
`We must force them back!'
`Force them back, Master? I say we destroy them all!'
`Can you take me into the Keep?'
`Of course.' he said, and he turned into his giant stone eagle shape. `Climb on my back, and I shall take you home right away!'
*
Latta took me into the courtyard and I was able to enter the Keep without the besieging army noticing it. The guards greeted me with worry in their eyes. When they saw me, covered in dirt and dry blood, one of them said that I looked like I had gone through Hell. My reply to him was short and telling.
`Hell is only a word. Reality is much, much worse...'
*
For the rest of the day, I tried to dispel the anti-magic curse that was placed upon me in the dungeon. With not being able to cast any spells, I was not able to cast any spells that could have dispelled the curse. So I needed to brew a potion out of special herbs that would at least temporarily lift the curse, so that I could then dispel it. It took me several long hours, but I succeeded. Then I was able to repair the damaged golems. But I was exhausted, so I rested for an hour, until the Captain of my guards came with the news that the dragons had taken to the sky and were approaching. I donned my armor, grabbed one of my old enchanted swords, and headed out to the battlefield.
Once outside, I ordered the gate to be opened. My men were shocked, but after I repeated my command, they obeyed. The besieging army was also surprised, as not one of them rushed through the open gates. They waited. But they did not need to wait for long.
`Follow me!' I screamed. `Spare no-one!'
I rushed out the gate and straight into the besieging army, with my soldiers and golems right behind me.
I took the fight straight to the invaders. I was full of sadness and anger, and I wanted to let off some steam. Well, a lot of steam, actually. The half-dragons and slave soldiers that got in my way learned that the hard way. I cut down so many of them that after a while, they dared not approach me. But they didn't have to. I went after them, and then they had no choice but to defend themselves. Then they fell, like the rest.
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